The Racist Origins of Healthcare Disparities Faced by Black Women
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Lauren Thompson
Department
RCHSS - History & Philosophy
Abstract
Modern medical practice continues to illustrate the disparity that Black women seeking healthcare face. This manifests in many ways including dismissal when seeking diagnosis, negligence, ignorance of the societal and cultural experience of Black women which ultimately affects their health, and blatant physical abuse. This project investigates the historical origins of this disparity; specifically, how white medical professionals who supported slavery and segregation described and treated their Black patients in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, there are those in the medial field who perpetuate this construct of race and racist ideologies. This project uses historical and contemporary records from several archives whose records demonstrate the biases, beliefs, and subsequent actions of white healthcare workers. These sources have also demonstrated the fight for change and equity from Black healthcare workers, those hoping to be in the field, leaders in the Black community, and patients. Secondary source research has also demonstrated the intentional practices and experimentations on Black women that often led to worsening conditions and or death. These sources illustrate the rationalizing language used by physicians and mental health care workers to continue heinous practices. I anticipate finding more evidence regarding certain words and phrases used to describe Black female patients to justify the disparate treatment that Black women have continuously been receiving from the healthcare industry for several centuries. This research has displayed the ways in which racist ideologies have led to abhorrent treatment of Black women in healthcare. Without this research, this issue will continue to go “unnoticed” by some and completely unknown to many. Additionally, Black women will continue to suffer, not only physically but mentally as well. This research intends to add to the literature on medicine, racism, women, and gender in hopes of beginning to fix this urgent issue within this country.
Disciplines
American Studies | History of Gender | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Other American Studies | United States History | Women's History | Women's Studies
The Racist Origins of Healthcare Disparities Faced by Black Women
Modern medical practice continues to illustrate the disparity that Black women seeking healthcare face. This manifests in many ways including dismissal when seeking diagnosis, negligence, ignorance of the societal and cultural experience of Black women which ultimately affects their health, and blatant physical abuse. This project investigates the historical origins of this disparity; specifically, how white medical professionals who supported slavery and segregation described and treated their Black patients in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, there are those in the medial field who perpetuate this construct of race and racist ideologies. This project uses historical and contemporary records from several archives whose records demonstrate the biases, beliefs, and subsequent actions of white healthcare workers. These sources have also demonstrated the fight for change and equity from Black healthcare workers, those hoping to be in the field, leaders in the Black community, and patients. Secondary source research has also demonstrated the intentional practices and experimentations on Black women that often led to worsening conditions and or death. These sources illustrate the rationalizing language used by physicians and mental health care workers to continue heinous practices. I anticipate finding more evidence regarding certain words and phrases used to describe Black female patients to justify the disparate treatment that Black women have continuously been receiving from the healthcare industry for several centuries. This research has displayed the ways in which racist ideologies have led to abhorrent treatment of Black women in healthcare. Without this research, this issue will continue to go “unnoticed” by some and completely unknown to many. Additionally, Black women will continue to suffer, not only physically but mentally as well. This research intends to add to the literature on medicine, racism, women, and gender in hopes of beginning to fix this urgent issue within this country.